The Daily Lard 10-23-11

Douglas LeeOct 23, 2011 9:37 AM

Good Morning, Broncos fans! You know what really grinds my gears? People like Dan Gainor (whom Kiszla quotes extensively in his column today) who say they're rooting for Tim Tebow because he's a "good role model" and a "player whose jersey you can wear and not worry about wanting to burn it tomorrow" because presumably he's not engaging in any scandalous behavior. Right, because most players are involved in scandals? Are the Broncos lacking in role models? What's wrong with Champ Bailey, Brian Dawkins, Elvis Dumervil, Eddie Royal, or Kyle Orton among the notable Denver veterans?

What's even funnier, is that Gainor goes on to say that if whatever criticism is directed at Tebow were instead aimed at a racial minority, there would be quite the backlash. This prompts a simple question. Would folks like Gainor be so interested in Tebow or in extolling his virtues if Tim weren't white?

Broncos

Andrew Mason previews the game and says Von Miller reacted well to being benched in the base defense against San Diego.

In Jeff Legwold's unscantastic preview, he says it's time for Von and Doom to start having a major impact.

Among the things Matt Bowen is looking for today, he's interested to see how Tebow does with a full two week's prep time, and if Denver whips anything new out of the playbook to utilize his strengths.

In his Sunday column, Dan Pompei says that in addition to Brandon Lloyd and Eddie Royal, Oakland's Louis Murphy and Philly's Steve Smith were available via trade. Plus, he echoes what Ted wrote Friday about Cameron Wake, whom Pompei says is all about speed and effort but needs more for his repertoire.

Alex, I&#8217m not suggesting Tebow is only popular because he&#8217s white. Of course that&#8217s not true. Besides, there&#8217s no shortage of white quarterbacks to root for. It certainly didn&#8217t help Kyle Orton, haha.

It was merely a response to Gainor&#8217s claim of a double standard.

Posted by Douglas Lee on 2011-10-23 15:38:34

Actually, not totally with you on this. I don&#8217t think it&#8217s a white race thing at all. It&#8217s more about religion.

Posted by Alex X on 2011-10-23 15:33:14

Boydy, what do you think of the pre-Draft talk of Newton not being intelligent or dedicated enough to be an NFL QB?

swg777, I posed the question about Tebow&#8217s race as a response to what Gainor asked about the very same thing - he posits that Tebow&#8217s treatment has to do with his race. Excellent points about popularity, and no of course there&#8217s nothing wrong at all with rooting for someone because you identify with them or see something of yourself in them.

Posted by Douglas Lee on 2011-10-23 15:29:36

Last year, the Onion ran an article &#8220Jay Cutler proves skeptics wrong by beating (worst) team to ever make the playoffs&#8221.

If Tebow has a good or great game against Miami, it proves he is awesome. If he has a so-so or bad game against Miami, it proves he is about to become awesome. Me, I&#8217m going to hold back my excitement until Tebow does something besides lead a comeback vs a bottom of the league defense and 2 short field TDs vs San Diego.

Posted by Piper A R on 2011-10-23 15:27:46

Totally with you Doug.

Even Orton and his Prius is hardly a bad example.

And thanks for the Lard. BTW, I dislike early football games.

Posted by Alex X on 2011-10-23 15:15:10

Agreed, Gman. Mexico City makes sense. They actually like the game down there.

Posted by oorange blood on 2011-10-23 15:14:18

An NFL franchise located in London, that would be a huge time zone advantage one way, and disadvantage the other.

What ever happened to NFL game(s) in Mexico City? Mexico seems like a much better place for a franchise timezone wise and, if memory serves, had a larger crowd watching.

Posted by Gman on 2011-10-23 15:09:16

Great Lard as always, Doug!

Something sort of fun you may have missed: Jockey has designed their own Tim Tebow billboard that is in a way a response to the Start Tim Tebow ones. It shows Tim throwing with rolling hills and Broncos in the background, and simply says &#8220We support Denver&#8221. Really well done.

Looking forward to the game! Let&#8217s get Decker isolated on that 3rd string safety for some huge plays today!

Posted by penguinman831 on 2011-10-23 15:02:58

Thanks Doug, I agree with LJ in that Tebowmania is a &#8220self-created phenomenon&#8221. Between the eye black, the book, the superbowl commercial, and now the foundation, Tebow has &#8216promoted&#8217 his faith more than any other player in the league, black or white. He is the one who keeps it in the spotlight, not the media. Go Broncos!

Posted by azdenfan on 2011-10-23 14:40:17

Showbiz 101.

The frontman in the band gets all the press.

Our band just fired their lead singer last week.

The rest of the band are great guys and good at what they do, but are sidemen.

Many great bands have two stars.

We might now have mick&#8230but no kieth.

With a little luck, he will simply be elvis.

Posted by Johnny Denver on 2011-10-23 14:37:09

Being on the other side of the globe I would not be able to watch the game. But I&#8217ll be checking the results immediately when I wake up. Here is hoping it is good. ^^

Posted by kaisaki-Oblue on 2011-10-23 14:35:54

Doug, Bronco brother, Tebow&#8217s our guy now and tho that doesn&#8217t mean he&#8217s untouchable (see every QB since #7) I think you should give him a bit of slack. He&#8217s still relatively fresh from people&#8217s memory of being college football&#8217s winningest player. His following is broad-ranged, but grousing about his &#8220good person&#8221 articles? Elvis, champ, Eddie all get some good pub, but they didn&#8217t lead their college teams on a national stage like TT did. If TT becomes part the QB pile of avg or worse QBs, you&#8217ll read a lot less of his articles, but if he is good/great&#8230.your gears will be grinding for quite awhile. BTW&#8230thank for the Lard <img alt="smile" height="19" src="http://www.singernet.com/images/smileys/smile.gif" style="border:0;" width="19">

I hope we try out Todman. I thought he was a steal in the 6th rd and unless he just can&#8217t transition to the NFL, he needs to be given a tryout. he had like 4.4 speed and did well in college.

Hurricane Tim is about to hit the southern coast of Florida. Looks like it&#8217s a Category 5. Go Broncos!

Posted by Orange and Blue on 2011-10-23 14:31:28

It will be nice when we can finally read articles about Tebow&#8217s actual playing ability. When he has a large body of work so all the media hacks can no longer sweep his numbers under the rug like they are all doing right now.. (13 total td&#8217s in less than 3 and 3 qtrs of work&#8230. pretty freakin good by any standards)

Posted by prospector1 on 2011-10-23 14:22:05

Sorry Doug, I referred to Marshall and Cutler within the last two years but I meant to say five years.

Posted by swg777 on 2011-10-23 14:16:11

Tim Tebow = White Christian American !!

Posted by bronncohowie on 2011-10-23 14:15:14

Doug, I appreciate your hard work, intelligence, and insight. Thanks for taking the time everyday to post this lard, which I read all the time.

Respectfully, I&#8217m going to disagree with you over the Dan Gainor story. First, Tim Tebow is a quarterback and right or wrong, QB&#8217s get all the fame. How many young, booger eating kids want to wear an Eddie Royal jersey? One of the game&#8217s biggest draws is the star power of quarterbacks. That is why the league has gone to such great lengths to protect them.

Secondly, this guy might also be talking about Tebow, as compared to the two most popular Broncos of the last two years, Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall. You can say Champ Bailey is popular too, but I would argue he was not as popular as Tebow, Cutler, and Marshall. So, in the sense that Tebow is being compared to Cutler and Marshall, I think he makes a fair point.

Finally, there is nothing wrong with liking a player because you identify with him. If there was a young Muslim fan it would not be crazy to me to see him root for a Muslim player.

Why do you imply that Gainor might be racist? What evidence, in this article, do you have? I&#8217m just curious because, ideologically, I agree with people like Gainor and I&#8217m pretty sure I&#8217m not a racist.

Again, thanks for your wit and hard work. 99% of the time I agree with you brother. Go Broncos!

Posted by swg777 on 2011-10-23 14:14:48

Kiszla did exactly what journalists do, which is find a yokel to parrot the journalist&#8217s notions. I&#8217m so beyond the idea that &#8220journalists&#8221 are a source of information. In fact, we live in an age of anti-journalists. They have a predilection for suppressing information they&#8217d rather we not think about.

By the way, for every Gainor there&#8217s a guy who detests Tebow for the same reasons. I don&#8217t detest them, just kind of feel sorry.

Posted by oorange blood on 2011-10-23 14:14:13

It is interesting looking at reverse rasicim, people hate to root for someone they have nothing on, I mean Tebow so far is face value, quality player, hard worker, non trouble maker, so as long as he puts it on the field the haters will have to stew in their own negativity

Posted by Eric Hyatt on 2011-10-23 14:10:04

I won&#8217t be able to watch the game, but I&#8217ll be checking in on my phone when the wedding I&#8217m at allows. Probably better for my well-being that I won&#8217t be hanging on every play.

Hopefully, we get a big lead and we glide to an easy win. It would be nice to have a game with Tebow that didn&#8217t involve so much drama.

Go Broncos!

Posted by Justin on 2011-10-23 14:04:31

Man,

Some teams are going to be pissed when they make Tebow throw and he cuts them apart.

His accuracy issues are so blown out pf proportion its not funny. Lost in all of this is the amount of &#8220chunk plays&#8221 he has already made with the deep ball. To rely on the notion &#8220Tebow cant throw&#8221 is to set up a lot of opposition teams for failure.

Seems that the way the Dolphins are playing it. Buyer beware!

Posted by Boydy2669 on 2011-10-23 13:54:14

I&#8217m just glad that Tebow can now be judged on his playing and not on hype politics religion etc. He is a very rare personality with a certain charisma that cause people to want to like or hate him for whatever reason.

Posted by sleepyteak on 2011-10-23 13:48:21

Doug,

Got comment on something: Would Tebow be so maligned by the MSM if he was black?

Why is not Cam Newton receiving the same criticisms?

If you dont think their is some reverse discrimination going on with Tebow, from a variety of positions, then we are all being naive!